Will a broody hen hoard other hen's eggs.

[Fairview01]

So there is but one special magical egg laying place in the coop that is considered to be ideal and coveted by all the laying hens. They all want to be in that corner and fuss until its available. One of my hens went broody and it would take a wonder bar to pry her out of that corner so the others now chicken pile around her and lay their eggs. If those eggs end up really close to her and within her reach, will she pull them under her? Up until 2 days ago when she went broody I was getting 3-5 eggs a day, now phfttt. Nothing for the last 2 days.

Yeah, I know I could reach under her and see how many eggs she has but she made it quite clear my intrusion into her magical corner was not appreciated.

 

[Abriana]

You will get a staggerd hatch if you let her have new eggs ever day. Some chicks will hatch days before others and some will die because the hen just cannot sit on eggs for that long. Please don't let her have new egg everyday. Mark the ones she's been sitting on and take the others away or move her to a cage please.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

She will keep taking eggs until she can't fit anymore. I had the same thing happen, just a weeks ago and my hen now has 13 eggs

 

[JDisme]

Agreed. Take the egfs that she is laying on and replace with gilf balkes or something untill you are ready to let ger hatch em...if u want to let ger i guess. Get the eggs at night when she is sleeping

 

[Abriana]

Golf balls, ceramic eggs, or any oblong egg resembling item you have on hand!

 

[azygous]

This is a very common problem - a broody tying up the favorite nest box. It really won't work for lots of reasons to allow her to hog it for three weeks, not to mention what will happen after the chicks hatch. You do not want this problem.

Moving a broody isn't easy, but it's doable. And wise. And easier on everyone over the long haul. But first you need to assess your coop and select a spot to build a nice, roomy, out-of-the-way broody nest on the floor.

I did this with my broody a couple years ago. She began sitting on her clutch of eggs in a nest in a coop that I was able to partition down the middle with plastic deer netting. I built a nest for her in one corner of this part of the coop. It was very early in her incubation that I moved her, and I did it by moving the eggs into the new nest box first. I did it on the sneak while she was off the nest taking a poop and dirt bath.

When she came back to the now empty nest, I picked her up and talked soothingly to her for a little bit, then I showed her the new nest with her eggs in it. She wasn't thrilled. But I ignored her protests and closed her up in the coop so she couldn't leave. She cursed and complained for a little bit, but soon she decided nest plus eggs plus anywhere was okay, and she climbed onto the eggs and planted herself for the duration.

This is what my nest box looks like:

 

[bobbi-j]

The best thing would be to move her. If you're not comfortable with that, then mark her eggs and check under her daily and remove any new ones. At this point, I'd collect a new clutch for her, take all the ones she's been sitting on and put the new ones (marked) under her so they all hatch at the same time. It might work with the ones she's got if she's only been broody for a couple of days, but some hens will take the chicks off the nest pretty fast after she thinks they've all hatched.

 

[User395221]

I have a pile of broody chickens, some fertilised eggs and every other girl in the flock decides she must lay in the same box. I can fish out the new eggs, but the clucky girls don't like it.

 

[Fairview01]

Well this is her first time and don't think she has accessed all that imprinted knowledge on how to do things.

I put a fake egg beside her in the morning and when I came home from work it was under her.

I've given her 3 marked eggs and the fake egg. When I come home at night she may have 8 or more under her. She's not to happy about being jostled with my daily intervention but I think this first time around is gonna be a practice run for her.

A broody hen is as I read a pita in the flock. She's really grouchy when she's off the nest in the morning chasing all the others around the run and summarily kicking every chicken out of the coop that has the curiosity to go in there when she isn't. One of the big bad roosters came out of the coop like a flying bowling ball when he ventured in their yesterday morning.

 

[aart]

Do yo have other nests for the other birds to use?
Anyway to fence her nest off from the flock and leave some room so she can get off nest stretch her legs eat drink poop?